docs: def force_string(val=None):
      """Force a string representation of an object
  
      Args:
          val: object to parse into a string
  
      Returns:
          str: String representation
  
      """
      if val is None:
          return ''
      if isinstance(val, list):
          newval = [str(x) for x in val]
          return ';'.join(newval)
      if isinstance(val, str):
          return val
      else:
          return str(val)